In memorium: Professor Xiao Jie Yang
PMJS Moderation Team
We write to regretfully inform PMJS members of the passing of Dr. Xiao Jie Yang. Below is an obituary kindly sent to us by Professor Yang's colleague Dr. Ben Whaley.
Professor Xiao Jie Yang (1959-2022)
Dear Colleagues,
It is with sadness that I report on the death of Professor Xiao Jie Yang of the University of Calgary, Canada.
A renowned scholar of premodern Japanese literature and visual culture, Professor Yang graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Japanese from Beijing University in 1982 and received his Doctorate from Kyoto University in 1989. In his thirty-two years researching and teaching at the University of Calgary, Professor Yang's work focused on the modernization and digitization of classical Japanese literature, emakimono, and medieval military literature.
Professor Yang received countless accolades throughout his academic career, most notably as the proud recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun award in 2016 from the Government of Japan for enabling further mutual understanding between Japan and Canada through his contributions to Japanese language studies. Professor Yang is the author of countless articles and several books in the field, including his most recent monograph in Japanese which is scheduled to be released next month.
Xiao Jie will certainly be missed by all of us who had the pleasure of working with him over the years and enjoying his humor and good nature. A full obituary and link to a live stream of his memorial service can be found at the link below.
https://mhfh.com/tribute/details/37967/Xiao-Jie-Yang/obituary.html#content-start
Sincerely,
Dr. Ben Whaley
(University of Calgary, School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Cultures)